Where does Thompson rank as far as GMs go?

He does a great job managing our salary cap (compared to the Steelers/Ravens situation this off season).
He does a great job finding late round/undrafted players that can contribute.
He usually gets us a couple impact players early in the draft.

I don't know where you draw this conclusion from, but it's not backed up by facts. I don't know what you consider great, but let's just use Ron Wolf as an example. TT has drafted better than Wolf in all of the first four rounds, but Wolf drafted slightly better in the 5th and 6th rounds. Here is a quick example. In the first round here are the picks:

2010 pick Mike Neal excluded, due to multiple injuries. Would have been considered a bust but finally started to contribute in 2013. Status unknown. Surely you could include Randall Cobb at this point, but I'm holding the line on including anyone from the previous two drafts.

I admit that the rating of a "success" or "bust" is subjective but in general are on target. You'll never please everyone, but I generally go with whether a player was a solid contributor to the team, regardless of draft position. I view it as you get seven picks in each draft and the goal is to draft 7 contributors. You will spend the same amount of money no matter which picks perform and don't perform (draft position), so the goal is quantity of successes.

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Wolf's strong suit wasn't first round picks either IMO. Players like Hawk, Bulaga, and Raji may not be busts, but they aren't up to the expectation considering how high they were drafted - Hawk especially. And Raji really irritates me because I had great hope for him in terms of toughness, but instead he is just a big blubbery finesse player. Sure, players drafted that high are gonna be contributors most of the time, but a "great" GM ought to get a little bit better percentage of star quality players - or else pay a little bit for some free agents (rarely). Otherwise, you end up with a mediocre team - much like our current O Line and D Line.

Let's be honest here. If DeSean Jackson doesn't make that miracle punt return against the Giants in 2010, we miss the playoffs that year and are 1-3 in the playoffs in the Rodgers era. We need to make some major improvements before we piss away Rodgers' prime. The defense is atrocious and the O-line is below average at best. Hopefully this changes soon before we have another top QB of all time with 1 ring.

I'll concede most of what you are saying. Just the same, overall TT hasn't been that great on early round picks.

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I also disagree with this assessment. It's been broken down a bit by success versus bust comparison, we've done a study on draft successes and used a different approach. We attempted to break down each selection's relative worth on a scale of 0-5 with 3 being an average starter - i.e. A.J. Hawk - and 6 being PB or All-Pro selections.

In the first round - TT has selected 3 PB's in Rodgers, Raji, and Clay, 1 5-star in Bulaga (my subjective ranking of him), and A.J. Hawk. His only bust is Harrell. He averages a 4.5 level talent in 6 total selections.

Second round - 2 PB's in Jennings and Collins, and 1 5-star in Jordy. His worst selections were Brohm, Pat Lee, and Terrance Murphy (b/c of his injury). His average is 2.89 over 9 selections.

3rd round - James Jones, JMike, and Colledge. Pretty good hauls. Average is 2.8 on 6 picks.

You can see the full breakdown and spreadsheet here if you'd like: http://wp.me/p29VCs-7I
(Remember, this was done last year, so rankings still need to be adjusted for this season. For example, I'm thinking Crosby doesn't deserve that 4-ranking anymore )

Let's be honest here. If DeSean Jackson doesn't make that miracle punt return against the Giants in 2010, we miss the playoffs that year and are 1-3 in the playoffs in the Rodgers era. We need to make some major improvements before we piss away Rodgers' prime. The defense is atrocious and the O-line is below average at best. Hopefully this changes soon before we have another top QB of all time with 1 ring.

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And if Rodgers hits Jennings against AZ we could won another playoff game. See I can play this game too.

I'll concede most of what you are saying. Just the same, overall TT hasn't been that great on early round picks. The luck was that Rodgers fell to the Packers - and that he turned out so great when many other highly drafted QBs don't. Maybe it was a genius move to draft him - or maybe just doing the obvious at that point in the draft. I don't have anything against Thompson, just that a few more strategic FA pickups might give us a more solid O Line, D Line, etc. Imagine Rodgers with the kind of blocking Brady or Brees get.

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Some of that is just plain bad luck, this season 3 out of his last 3 first round picks are out on injured reserve. two of them being tackles. Collins is another case of drafting a great talent and then having bad luck. I also like TT's philosophy of drafting BAP, There was definitely some luck having Aroge fall to him, but as was stated earlier, he already had a legend for a QB who had just taken them to the NFC Championship game, so you have to give him credit for seeing the value in Aroge and grabbing him. FA's are for the most part overrated and will catch up to you in your CAP. Keep grabbing the young talent and hope for less bad luck.

You can see the full breakdown and spreadsheet here if you'd like: http://wp.me/p29VCs-7I
(Remember, this was done last year, so rankings still need to be adjusted for this season. For example, I'm thinking Crosby doesn't deserve that 4-ranking anymore )

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I like your sheet. I've thought about moving to a ranking system, similar to yours, but your final statement is what keeps me from doing it. I don't want to have to re-rank players throughout their careers. It's hard enough to get people to agree on successes or busts, let alone smaller increments of success. There is sound rationale for both methodologies

Let's be honest here. If DeSean Jackson doesn't make that miracle punt return against the Giants in 2010, we miss the playoffs that year and are 1-3 in the playoffs in the Rodgers era. We need to make some major improvements before we piss away Rodgers' prime. The defense is atrocious and the O-line is below average at best. Hopefully this changes soon before we have another top QB of all time with 1 ring.

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Why does everyone constantly repeat this misconception?

If DeSean Jackson doesn't make that miracle punt return, assuming everything else is the same, the Eagles finish 9-7 and miss the playoffs entirely, and the Giants take their spot, and we still get the 6th seed at 10-6. It took me about 20 seconds to find this information and another 10 seconds to figure it out in my head.

Anyone who makes it seem like it was a gimme to draft Rodgers for the packer has limited memory.

Lets go back to that draft and remember how Favre and his minions were in an uproar that he would disrespect the legend by not drafting a skill position. Looking back it makes perfect sense. But at the time the move had a wide range of opinions.

Anyone who makes it seem like it was a gimme to draft Rodgers for the packer has limited memory.

Lets go back to that draft and remember how Favre and his minions were in an uproar that he would disrespect the legend by not drafting a skill position. Looking back it makes perfect sense. But at the time the move had a wide range of opinions.

Let's be honest here. If DeSean Jackson doesn't make that miracle punt return against the Giants in 2010, we miss the playoffs that year and are 1-3 in the playoffs in the Rodgers era. We need to make some major improvements before we piss away Rodgers' prime. The defense is atrocious and the O-line is below average at best. Hopefully this changes soon before we have another top QB of all time with 1 ring.

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I guess it is factually wrong about the Packers not making the playoffs without Jackson's return, but I still wholeheartedly agree with your last 3 lines.

I understand he's only got that one ring, but I like him for his overall philosophy. Thompson rarely ever makes a decision that I wouldn't myself and when he does he turns out to be right and I'm wrong.

I was in the minority when Thompson got here. I liked him right away. I agreed with how he drafted and handled the whole Rodgers Favre deal.

I think Thompson will still get at least one more ring with Rodgers and probably would have gotten another already if not for our constant injuries. Which is how the game works but when you have all these injuries and still manage to have a successful season it speaks to the depth Thompson has had year in and year out.

Everybody here has already went over his strengths. I'll leave that alone except one more thing: youth. The main key to all of Green Bay's success.

EDIT: Is it not slightly remarkable that on the day of Charles Woodson's release we are commenting on this thread all with high remarks about Thompson? I am confident he could release Aaron Rodgers and immediately some of us would come on here defending the decision and reciting the ole "trust in TT" saying.

Let's be honest here. If DeSean Jackson doesn't make that miracle punt return against the Giants in 2010, we miss the playoffs that year and are 1-3 in the playoffs in the Rodgers era. We need to make some major improvements before we piss away Rodgers' prime. The defense is atrocious and the O-line is below average at best. Hopefully this changes soon before we have another top QB of all time with 1 ring.

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You blame Ted for not building us a good enough "defense and O-line" and then YOU GO AHEAD AND BLAME HIM FOR "PISSING AWAY" AARON RODGERS PRIME?!? HELLO! He drafted Aaron when pretty much nobody wanted him. He found that golden nugget that you are blaming him for wasting.

I'm sorry dude you can't have it both ways. You either take the 1 Super Bowl we've gotten so far, the 74-38 record and Aaron Rodgers or you leave it all.

I understand he's only got that one ring, but I like him for his overall philosophy. Thompson rarely ever makes a decision that I wouldn't myself and when he does he turns out to be right and I'm wrong.

I was in the minority when Thompson got here. I liked him right away. I agreed with how he drafted and handled the whole Rodgers Favre deal.

I think Thompson will still get at least one more ring with Rodgers and probably would have gotten another already if not for our constant injuries. Which is how the game works but when you have all these injuries and still manage to have a successful season it speaks to the depth Thompson has had year in and year out.

Everybody here has already went over his strengths. I'll leave that alone except one more thing: youth. The main key to all of Green Bay's success.

EDIT: Is it not slightly remarkable that on the day of Charles Woodson's release we are commenting on this thread all with high remarks about Thompson? I am confident he could release Aaron Rodgers and immediately some of us would come on here defending the decision and reciting the ole "trust in TT" saying.

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I was in that same minority in TTs early years. I'm now coming to the conclusion that even though his era with the Packers has been pretty good, it might have been a lot better if he was slightly less of a tightwad. I never bought into the concept of spending big money for other teams' free agents, but I'm coming around to the view that a little of that - a little bit more than Thompson has seen fit to do - would be helpful.

Wolf's strong suit wasn't first round picks either IMO. Players like Hawk, Bulaga, and Raji may not be busts, but they aren't up to the expectation considering how high they were drafted - Hawk especially. And Raji really irritates me because I had great hope for him in terms of toughness, but instead he is just a big blubbery finesse player. Sure, players drafted that high are gonna be contributors most of the time, but a "great" GM ought to get a little bit better percentage of star quality players - or else pay a little bit for some free agents (rarely). Otherwise, you end up with a mediocre team - much like our current O Line and D Line.

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Sometimes I think the soft may be taught to them by the coaches, then I remember who the coaches are and who else they coached and it makes no sense to me

I am confident he could release Aaron Rodgers and immediately some of us would come on here defending the decision and reciting the ole "trust in TT" saying.

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Now that you mention it, he could. He would have to pull off one heck of a deal though. Trade Rodgers to SF for LaMichael James, Patrick Willis, and Justin Smith while also getting Matt Flynn back from Seattle. That's realistic, right?

I would say certainly top 5 for Thompson and that's probably the consensus around the league as well.

The point about the 49ers being bad for several years accumulating those high draft picks is well taken. What do you suppose Packers boards like this would look like if they Packers mirrored the 49ers' records while they were accumulating talent? A lot of focus is on picks early in the first round but when a team sucks for several years, they of course get early picks in every round. If you know what you're doing, that can make a big difference. In any event you have to give them credit for being smart in exercising those picks unlike Detroit, for example. The bad news for us is the 49ers have 14 picks in the upcoming draft and a backup QB they can turn into a high pick or picks.

Loved the Jerry Jones mention at the bottom. I don't know if he's absolutely the worst but close enough and for a long, long time. Seldom is a huge ego "rewarded" so publically and definitively - I wonder if he could go back in time if he would be glad to have given Jimmy the lion's share of the credit for the 'boys success in order to keep him on board? Even with the benefit of hindsight perhaps his ego just couldn't go there and he'd sacrifice the success of his beloved franchise on its alter all over again.

BTW, we can also thank Mr. Belichick for trading the 26th pick in the first round of the 2009 to the Packers. I'm sure the Pats couldn't have used Clay in their defense anyway. Seriously I'm glad Belichick is one of the willing trading partners for Thompson. It takes two to tango and we'll never know all the players Thompson targeted and just couldn't find a dance partner. Well that was a stake to my heart! The perfect setup to mention the great Jack Vainisi and all we get is "since the Lombardi era". That's it! Vainisi gets no respect! I'm outta here!

Let's be honest here. If DeSean Jackson doesn't make that miracle punt return against the Giants in 2010, we miss the playoffs that year and are 1-3 in the playoffs in the Rodgers era. We need to make some major improvements before we piss away Rodgers' prime. The defense is atrocious and the O-line is below average at best. Hopefully this changes soon before we have another top QB of all time with 1 ring.

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Favre only has 1 ring bc he liked to throw INTs in the playoffs at an ungodly rate. 1 title during his tender clearly falls on his shoulders. The SB loss you can disperse blame in several areas.

Now that you mention it, he could. He would have to pull off one heck of a deal though. Trade Rodgers to SF for LaMichael James, Patrick Willis, and Justin Smith while also getting Matt Flynn back from Seattle. That's realistic, right?

For everyone worried we are wasting the prime years of AR, after the release today of Saturday, the only player on this team over 30 is Pickett at 33. Young and still loaded, lets let this one play out a bit before we make final judgement. I can't wait to see what happens this offseason and really can't wait for the draft.

For everyone worried we are wasting the prime years of AR, after the release today of Saturday, the only player on this team over 30 is Pickett at 33. Young and still loaded, lets let this one play out a bit before we make final judgement. I can't wait to see what happens this offseason and really can't wait for the draft.